Former Mets Relief Pitcher: Bartolome Fortunato (2004/2006)

Bartolome Araujo Fortunato was born on August 24, 1974 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The six foot one right hander was originally signed by the Tampa Rays as a free agent in 1996 but didn't begin pitching in the minors until 2000.

He moved through the minors mostly as a relief pitcher making his MLB debut in 2004. In Tampa he had only pitched in three games at the big league level allowing three runs in seven innings of work. 


In July 2004 Fortunato came over to the New York Mets along with Victor Zambrano in the Scott Kazmir trade. He debuted as a New York Met on August 20th pitching two scoreless innings in San Francisco against the Giants.

Through the rest of the 2004 season, he pitched well out of the Mets bull pen, getting credit for a save with two holds going 1-0. Fortunato saw action in 15 games (18.2 innings) earning the win on September 22nd, pitching two scoreless innings against the Montreal Expos.

He missed the entire 2005 season due to a herniated disc and came back in 2006 pitching at AAA Norfolk. After eleven games he made two brief appearances that May with the Mets.

His first outing went well allowing a run in 1.2 innings and getting the win on May 6th against the Atlanta Braves. The next day was a disaster; he allowed eight runs in 1.1 innings relieving Jose Lima (who took the loss) in a 13-3 Mets loss. His ERA ballooned to 27.00 & he was released later that week.

He signed with the San Francisco Giants in 2008 but didn’t make the team getting released there as well. He played in the Golden Independent League in California in 2009. Fortunato finished his career at 2-0 with a save and a 6.21 ERA in twenty appearances.